The instant invention relates to chipper knives and particularly to a double-edged chipper knife which is easily installed in a chipping head.
Chipper knives are used in chipping machines during the production of wood chips which are ultimately used in making paper and other composite wood products. Known chippers generally have a rotatable chipping disc which carries a plurality of chipper knives mounted thereon. The knives may be as much as 4 feet long and can weight 60-70 pounds. The size and weight of the knives create handling problems when it is necessary to replace a worn or dull knife.
Although chipper blades have been used, with several of the blades being mounted to form a continuous knife, the geometry of these blades has been somewhat complex and requires extensive machining to create a blade having the desired shape.
An object of the instant invention is to provide a chipper knife which is easily installed and replaced in a chipping machine.
A further object of the instant invention is to provide a chipper knife with two cutting edges which can be conveniently used in a "returnable" system and which is replacable in multiple knife segments.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a chipper knife which is firmly held in a mounting in a chipping apparatus.
Another object of the instant invention is to provide a chipper knife having a simple geometric form.
Yet another object of the instant invention is to provide a chipping apparatus having a wear-resistent mounting for a chipper knife.
A further object of the invention is to provide a chipper knife which will deflect chips formed thereby away from a mounting holding the knife.
The chipper knife of the invention, in a specific embodiment, includes a pair of elongate blade portions which are integrally joined at a midplane. The midplane longitudinally bisects the blade. The blade portions have an outer surface which intersects the midplane at an acute angle and an inner surface which intersects the midplane at a lesser acute angle than that formed by the outer surface. The outer surface of each blade portion terminates in a cutting edge. A mounting for the knife includes a base portion which supports the inner surfaces of the blade portions with the cutting edge of one of the blade portions paralleling a rotatably mounted chipper disc, to which the mounting is attached. The mounting includes a hold down plate which engages the outer surface of the other blade portion.
These and other objects of the instant invention will become more fully apparent as the description which follows is read in conjunction with the drawings.